The Sea and the Moon
by trashiicat
Summary: Growing up in an orphanage had been dreadfully dull for Cynthia Seawright, but when she meets a strange girl and receives an even stranger letter that all seems to change. What happens when two orphans go to Hogwarts?
1. Chapter One: Friends and Revelations

The relentless torrent of raindrops hitting the glass window of her room had always been a strangely relaxing sound for her, for as long as she could remember. She didn't know what it was about the sound that attracted her so much, all she knew was that it always seemed to calm her down as she listened to the howls of the wind and the drops of water hammering mercilessly on her window.

Cynthia Seawright sighed as she heard the tell-tale signs of the rain abruptly coming to a halt, the raindrops gradually slowing until they became practically non-existent. Her dark green eyes flickered away from the book in her hands, glaring at the window as if some magical force would start the rain back up again. Setting the book down on her bed with a sigh, she strode over to the window, slightly annoyed to see that the clouds had already gone and bright rays of sunlight were streaming in from outside, making her eyes ache. She had grown used to the bleak grey colour of the sky that always accompanied the rain.

She slowly paced the room, debating what to do. She could go outside for a change, she supposed, but she wasn't exactly sure how that would benefit her, minus the fresh air. She eventually just decided to get back to reading her book and waiting for dinner.

Cynthia had never been a very social person. She could certainly talk if she felt like it, but overall she just preferred her own company to that of somebody else's. She couldn't remember having proper friends before and a small part of her (not that she would admit it) yearned for a bit of company every now and then when she was feeling bored.

She wasn't sure how long she lounged around on her bed for, flicking through the worn, yellowing pages of her book and wondering if the main character would finally notice the glaringly obvious clue that pointed to who the criminal was. The sound of pounding footsteps and yelling children could be heard as she realised that it was probably time for dinner already. After all, when it was time for dinner nearly all of the children at Lake's Orphanage seemed to become as mature as starving animals who hadn't eaten in days.

Setting her book down on her bedside table, Cynthia sighed as she prepared to face the other orphans at dinner. She cast a disdainful glance at her mirror, hating the way her long, dark brown hair was as messy as always. Cynthia couldn't really do anything about the state of her hair, seeing as she had no hairbrush, but if she could, she would fix it in a heartbeat.

Unlocking the door to her room, she quickly checked the corridors to see if anyone was still around and slowly made her way downstairs and to the dining hall. Slipping inside the large room unnoticed, Cynthia took a seat at a circular table near the back of the room and waited for the queue to die down; so she wouldn't have to stand in line longer than necessary. Once there were only a handful or so orphans waiting to please their rumbling stomachs, Cynthia joined the queue and grabbed her portion of the pie that was going to be their dinner for the night.

Making her way back to her table, Cynthia was shocked to see that a girl was already sitting there, seemingly unaware of the heated glare Cynthia was sending her way, not feeling in the mood to talk to anybody. She vaguely recalled the girl's face and was sure she'd seen her a couple of times. It was quite difficult to miss her though, with her long, wavy white-blonde hair and large blue eyes which seemed to only blink when absolutely necessary. Cynthia sat down opposite the girl, making the wooden chair creak slightly as she put her weight on the chair with a bit more force than necessary.

The girl finally seemed to notice her and looked up from her plate, seemingly unfazed. _"Hello_ ," Cynthia greeted her, slightly harsher than she'd intended to. The girl said nothing and her annoyingly-calm aura made Cynthia wanted to throw her food at the girl in frustration; how could somebody possibly remain so calm all the time? It was unnatural!

"Hello..." the girl said in a near-whisper. Her voice was soft but it seemed to hold a slightly mysterious and creepy edge to it, like there was something she was hiding.

"I couldn't help but notice that you decided to sit down at my table while I went and got my food," Cynthia said, trying to make the girl go away. "Might I ask why you decided to sit down here?" she asked, irritated.

The girl just smiled and continued eating calmly, like nothing had just happened. After a few seconds, she seemed to finally decide to answer Cynthia's question. "I thought the table looked nice," she said, cheerily, like that was a completely normal thing to declare.

"The... table looked... nice?" Cynthia asked, completely befuddled as to why that was the reason the girl had decided to join her. Nobody had ever really decided to approach her before of their own accord- maybe there was an ulterior motive to the seemingly-harmless girl deciding to join her. Cynthia narrowed her eyes slightly, suddenly suspicious of the girl's intentions.

Humming in agreement, the girl just continued to act like Cynthia wasn't even there, which irritated her to no end. "What's your name?" Cynthia suddenly asked, curious as to what the identity of the girl was.

Seemingly lost in thought for a few moments, the girl blinked owlishly at her before realising she'd just been asked a question. "Lily..." she mumbled, voice still soft as ever. "Lily Moon," she clarified, before going back to eating her pie again.

Cynthia suddenly realised that she hadn't even touched her food and hastily picked up her knife and fork before glancing at Moon again to see if she was doing anything else, but she was still eating and looking like she was lost in her own little world.

An uncomfortable silence settled over the table as the two girls, both lost in thought, finished off their dinner. Cynthia quickly finished her food and one glance at Lily showed her that she'd done the same, but was making no move to get up and clean up. Cynthia just shrugged to herself, cleaned up her plate and slowly made her way back to her room, hoping to finish off her book but was interrupted by the sound of soft footsteps trailing behind her as she made her way up the stairs.

Quickly whirling around, an inquiry at the tip of her tongue, Cynthia was shocked to see Moon standing behind her, face emotionless. Extremely annoyed by the fact that the girl couldn't seem to leave her alone, Cynthia bit back a growl and instead sighed. She asked, "Moon? What are you doing here?" to seem slightly less hostile and more friendly to the girl.

With her infernal smile, Moon just calmly walked past Cynthia and quickly opened the door to her room before disappearing inside without another word. Gritting her teeth in anger at being dismissed so easily, she stormed to the door of Moon's room and knocked loudly on the door.

After a few seconds, the handle of the doorknob began to turn and Moon's face came into view. "Yes?" she asked, still smiling, but her eyes seemed to look slightly more focused and sharper than usual. Cynthia was about to open her mouth and demand to know why Moon had just ignored her like that before stopping. Why had she been so annoyed that she'd been ignored so easily by somebody she'd barely even talked to? It really made no sense, as Cynthia was used to being ignored and had learnt to just put up with it. Maybe it was because Moon had been the first person to ever actually go up to Cynthia for no specific reason.

Cynthia sighed, "Just... nevermind..." she said, closing the door and quickly walking to her room to get away from Moon's curious gaze. Flopping down on her bed, Cynthia groaned in frustration; why did people have to be so confusing and complicated? She had never really talked to people for that reason alone and now it seemed that talking to Moon had made her even more antisocial, if that was possible.

Cynthia had never really known why nobody had decided to approach her in all her years spent at the Orphanage, she just didn't seem to fit in with everybody else. Frowning, she recalled that all the times she'd seen Moon (excluding the two weird incidents that had just taken place) the other girl had always been alone as well. Maybe she didn't fit in too? Cynthia had no problems believing that Moon was probably an outcast because of the strange way her brain seemed to function, it made sense, actually. Maybe she could talk to her at breakfast the next day and find out.

Over the next couple of weeks, Moon seemed to always follow Cynthia around wherever she went- minus her room, of course. It was slightly unsettling, but Cynthia eventually got used to the other girl's presence and adjusted her routine slightly. The two had gradually gotten to know each other, and to Cynthia's shock, she discovered that Lily's parents had died in the same attack as hers had.

"Wait, so it was definitely the same attack?" she double-checked, feeling slightly overwhelmed by this new information. Lily just nodded her confirmation as she absentmindedly fiddled with a strand of her light hair, eyes glazed.

Neither of the two were sure what exactly happened in the attack and why it had happened, but it was common knowledge that it had happened while both girls had scarcely been a couple months old. The attack had taken place sometime in the middle of winter in London and over a hundred people had been injured, with around twenty dead. The chances that both sets of parents had died in the exact same attack was very low. The only reason Cynthia really knew about the attack in the first place was because she had heard some adults discussing it on the streets and she'd overheard a couple of caretakers talking about how her parents had died in the attack.

This was how Cynthia found herself unable to be separated from Lily, the two eventually becoming closer friends.

It was a warm summer's day, near the end of July, when something strange happened. Cynthia and Lily, knowing each other for a couple of months now, were sitting outside in the shade of a large willow tree and discussing random, meaningless things such as the weather when they heard a loud shout coming from the direction of the Orphanage's doors.

"Lily Moon an' Cynthia Seawright! Ya 'ave a visitor!" A young caretaker shouted loudly, drawing the attention of the two girls. Sharing a glance, they both made their way to the caretaker, who was impatiently tapping her heels and absentmindedly staring down at her shoes. She perked up when she noticed them. "Ya 'ere?" she said, "Follow me 'en!" she shouted as she quickly made her way through the door and down the hall, presumably taking them to the visitor.

They were led to a lounge which was only mainly used when couples wishing to adopt a child turned up, not that that was very often. It was quite a large and bright room, with cream-coloured walls and large, gaping windows. A large, dark leather couch and matching armchair were placed in the middle, opposite each other and with a coffee table separating them in the middle.

A stern-looking woman wearing some sort of strange, green dress was sat in the armchair, looking extremely stiff. When the girls sat down on the couch, opposite the woman, she finally seemed to notice them and she peered at them over her square spectacles, seemingly examining them, making Cynthia uncomfortable.

"You two are Lily Moon and Cynthia Seawright, correct?" she asked, fumbling around in the pocket of her strange dress as she spoke. Cynthia saw Lily nod her head, before seemingly remembering the woman couldn't see them and abruptly stopping mid-nod.

The woman finally took two letters out of her pocket, handing one to Lily and Cynthia each. Lily immediately opened hers, whilst Cynthia just stared at the woman in slight confusion. She made a gesture with her hand, signaling Cynthia to open it, which she did.

 _HOGWARTS SCHOOL of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY_

 _Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore_

 _(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock,  
Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)_

 _Dear Ms. Seawright,_

 _We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment._

 _Term begins on 1st September. We await your owl by no later than 31st July._

 _Yours sincerely,_

 _Minerva McGonagall_

 _Deputy Headmistress_

A hundred thoughts flew through Cynthia's head at that moment, one stronger than the others- this had to be a joke.

 **A/N:**

 **Hi, whoever's actually bothering to read this! Anyway, let me know what you think about this first chapter, it would be nice if you could leave a comment? Is my writing bad? Is it good? Please tell me, as I'm trying to improve my writing as much as possible and I appreciate all help I can get.**

 **If you have any suggestions, then please leave them in the comments!**

 **Bye.**


	2. Chapter Two: School Supplies and Wands

"Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry?" Cynthia asked. "Is this some sort of joke or something?" she asked, extremely sceptical of the woman and her intentions.

The woman gave a firm nod. "Yes, magic is real and so is Hogwarts. I'm the Deputy Headmistress, Professor McGonagall." she clarified.

Cynthia frowned, still suspicious of what was going on. "Prove it," she said, trying not to sound to blunt but not particularly succeeding.

McGonagall sighed, and pulled out what seemed like a wooden stick out of her strange dress- Cynthia really had to learn what those things were actually called, instead of just calling them dresses. She waved it around, and suddenly the coffee table turned into a rabbit.

Mouth nearly wide open, Cynthia was stunned and speechless; magic couldn't be real, could it? Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Lily smiling like usual and mentally shook her head- how that girl was such a good actor, she would never know.

Turning the table back to its normal state, McGonagall peered at the two girls expectantly. "I assume you would like to attend Hogwarts this coming September?" she asked them, and Cynthia gave a quick nod whilst Lily just continued smiling whilst giving a small nod herself.

"You can find your list of supplies on that second piece of parchment in the envelope you have over there. The wizarding bank, Gringotts, has also provided some money for your supplies, seeing as neither of you have a vault," McGonagall informed them, before pausing for a moment. "Would you like me to escort you as you buy your supplies?" she asked.

Shaking her head, Cynthia almost couldn't contain her excitement at the thought of going to study something as intriguing as magic in a school, nonetheless!

McGonagall gave them instructions on how to get to the place where wizards could buy all their items, apparently called Diagon Alley, before getting up from the armchair and leaving the room, leaving Cynthia and Lily alone with their thoughts.

Diagon Alley was able to be accessed through a pub known as 'The Leaky Cauldron'. With the help of the old barkeeper, Tom, Cynthia and Lily managed to get through the passage accessed by tapping a brick with your wand and were astounded by the magical place.

The girls hurriedly purchased all their books, potions ingredients and plain, black robes with the money that Gringotts had provided them and soon the only thing left for them to buy were their wands. The wand shop was a small, shabby building known as _'Ollivanders'_ and the place had apparently been producing wands ever since 382 BC, a fact which shocked Cynthia to no end.

As they stepped inside the shop, Cynthia could distinctly hear a bell going off somewhere in the shop, presumably alerting the shopkeeper of their presence. The silence was unbearable and tense, so much that Cynthia could practically taste the tension. A feeling of magic lingered in the air and Cynthia couldn't help being fascinated by the power that seemed to resonate from all around the small room.

"Why good afternoon," the soft voice of a man murmured, and it took all of Cynthia's self-control to not jump or gasp in shock at the sudden noise, which penetrated the previous ominous silence.

Mr Ollivander was an old man, with large and pale eyes which seemed to be reading the two girls' minds and picking them apart to the smallest little detail.

"Miss Moon and Miss Seawright, I presume?" Lily nodded calmly, whilst Cynthia could only uneasily stare at the man, wondering how he'd acquired the information- maybe he actually could read minds?

"I remember when your mother first entered this shop," he remarked to Lily. "Bright young thing she was, and I'm sure you'll take after her in that area, if not any others at the very least," he chuckled.

He suddenly turned his gaze on Cynthia, "How curious..." he muttered to himself, seemingly unaware of Cynthia's intrigued and demanding gaze piercing his forehead. "I didn't think any of them were still left, except, well... that one, but this is a surprise..."

"What's a surprise?" Cynthia suddenly blurted out, mentally cursing herself for her lack of tact. Ollivander looked at her, seemingly surprised.

"Ah, well, nevermind that!" he said, suddenly cheerfully clapping his hands together and smiling. "You're here to get your wands, are you not?" he asked them, walking over to his shelves full of various wands and carefully inspecting them, before pulling out a few he deemed useful. His gaze focused on Lily, "Miss Moon, if you would please tell me your wand arm," he said.

Lily extended both arms, surprising Ollivander, who chuckled after a moment. "Ambidextrous, are you?" he asked. Ollivander then pulled out a long tape measurer, which then began measuring Lily on it's own.

Ollivander then proceeded to hand Lily wand after wand as Cynthia watched in interest from the corner of the room, careful not to get too close and disturb them.

After what seemed like an eternity, Ollivander finally handed Lily a wand which seemed to work well for her, emitting a warm glow all over the shop and radiating waves of magic.

Ollivander looked thoughtful. "Hmm, silver lime, fourteen inches, unicorn hair, quite an interesting combination and a rare wood you have there, Miss Moon!" he declared. "That would be seven Galleons."

As Lily paid for her wand, Cynthia realised just how nervous she was- what if a wand didn't even pick her, then what would happen? Was she too weak, forgettable, pitiful?

Turning to look at Cynthia, Ollivander suddenly seemed to have a thoughtful gleam in his eyes. It was gone nearly as soon as it had appeared though.

"Ah, Miss Seawright- which is your wand arm?"

Cynthia held her right arm out, and Ollivander proceeded to repeat the same procedure he had used when measuring Lily. After he had finally finished, he went back to his shelves and brought out a stack of wands, just like before. The first one, 'Unicorn hair, nine inches, pear wood' was an absolute disaster, and ended up shattering the windows of the shop as soon as it had touched the skin of Cynthia's palm.

Mr Ollivander looked momentarily shocked, but quickly recovered and performed some sort of spell with his own wand which quickly fixed the problem of the broken windows.

He handed her wand after wand, all of which seemed to end in some sort of disaster, and Cynthia was quickly losing any hope she'd previously had about owning her own wand.

 _It's no use_ , she thought to herself gloomily as Mr Ollivander handed her what seemed to be her millionth wand. She'd just decided to go along with it, sure that she wasn't actually a witch and that Hogwarts had just made some sort of mistake.

After a couple more minutes, Ollivander suddenly got that thoughtful gleam in his eyes again, making Cynthia nervous.

"Very interesting..." he murmured to himself as he went over to a faraway shelf, reached up and grabbed a box. He then went back to Cynthia, and, with hands that looked to be trembling slightly, handed her the wand inside.

When her hand touched the smooth wood of the wand, Cynthia gasped; it was perfect. Moments later, she felt a cold yet comforting wind pass through the shops, covering everything in a wave of magical energy.

"I see..." Ollivander said. "Thirteen inches, elder wood and phoenix feather..." he informed her. "That's certainly very interesting indeed..." Ollivander muttered.

Cynthia frowned, "Excuse me, but what exactly is so interesting?" she asked politely, wanting some sort of answer to her many questions.

Ollivander just chuckled. "Never mind that... anyway, that would also be seven galleons," he said, quickly and obviously changing the subject. Cynthia just sighed and handed over the money.

The two girls made their way out of the shop, out of Diagon Alley, out of the magical world, and back to the boring world centred around the orphanage, where they lived.


End file.
